The reconstructed ballet Raymonda, that debuted earlier this month at Milan‘s La Scala, will be broadcast this evening at 21.30 on Rai5 in a delayed broadcast. Whether the hour and a half difference is to allow a tripping ballerina the chance to have another go has not been explained.
This is a mega-ballet with the full corps, 70 children from the La Scala ballet school, spear-carriers, over five hundred costumes, and an on-stage band. The Mariinsky‘s Olesya Novikova and Stuttgart’s Friedemann Vogel dance the roles of Raymonda and Jean de Brienne.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.